A Hero in All of Us
by TheTrueLight
Summary: Four years after the events of The Last of Us, a group of military deserters stumble onto a dam in the midst from running from their pursuers. They have no option but to go to the Dam and ask for help from the people they find there, lest they be discovered and executed. What will they find? Rated T for language and violence.


**Hey guys! This is a _very very _rough TLOU Fanfic I just made. I'm not sure if I'll make it a regular thing. Just give me some feedback? Thanks!**

**-TTL**

* * *

Dry, brittle leaves church under my boot and I glance up from my resolute march, night is falling. I grab my flashlight, thank God some egghead figured out how to charge these things by shaking them. I quicken my pace, recognizing the danger of being out as the night falls. Suddenly, a snap of a twig behind me alerts the presence of another. Whirling around I grab my assailant by the throat and press my knife against soft flesh.

"Cap!" A choked voice strains, "Cap, it's me!"

I let go and lower my blade, immediately recognizing the person who now gasps for air at my feet. His red hair, green eyes, and scrawny figure instantly recognizable even in this dim light.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Sharps!" My dry voice rasps, "You know not to sneak up on me! I could have killed you!"

"My deepest apologies, your highness." Sharps drones sarcastically, "Forgive me for trying to give you some water."

He holds out a clear plastic bottle. It's mired with scratches and has seen a lot of use. Inside is something more precious than gold: Clean, clear water. I grab the bottle immediately and slake my thirst. After I gorge myself with the liquid I look at my partner, expecting to see a look of annoyance or even disgust from me draining the bottle. Instead I'm met with a wide, toothy grin.

"There's more where that came from." He says proudly as he opens his bag, revealing at least a dozen more water filled to the brim water bottles, "_A lot more._"

"Where did you get all this water?" I question my friend, "This…this is HUGE! We've been short on water for a damn long time!"

"Well," He smirks, "I happened to find a river, more clean water than we'll ever need. But get this: There's something even better I found!"

"Even better?" My jaw almost drops, "You found a virtually infinite water supply, what could be better than this?"

"I found a hydroelectric plant!" He squeals in delight.

"Uh…a hydra-what?" I ask quizzically.

Sharps' expression switched from jubilant to exasperated in a second flat and he hung his head in his hands.

"Oh what would you do without me?" He mutters, "A hydroelectric plant is a power plant that uses the movement of a river's water to generate electricity, numbskull."

"First of all, so what if you found one?" I harrumph, "Its been twenty four years since the outbreak, I doubt the place is in running condition. Second of all, how did you even know that?"

"Well, for your information, I know because I read about it in one of the few books they had in that library." He leers the glint returning to his eyes, "But more importantly, the issue is that the plant _was_ running!"

"You're shitting me." I shake my head in disbelief.

"No shit, I guarantee it, Cap." He assures me, "The issue being that the place is under some seriously heavy guard. These guys are packing some heavy arms."

"Did you see what they were wearing? Were they military?" I ask hastily.

"No, definitely weren't military." Sharps answers much to my relief, "But hell with what they had set up, they could easily hold against those jarheads for a long while."

"Yeah… I doubt that some military deserters like us could take the place for ourselves. After all, there are only four of us." I admit, "Let's get back to camp, night's coming."

"You're the boss, Cap." Sharps gives me a mock salute, "Let's go. Doc and Cook are probably getting hungry."

Luckily, Sharps and I get back to camp with incident, welcomed by a dim fire. A large gruff man pokes at the flames and embers with a stick. His face is solemn, checks slightly sunken from a lack of food; his eyes have dark rings, a result of a lack of sleep; lips cracked and dry, a side effect of dehydration. He looks up at us and a smile instantly comes to his face. It's a weak, weary smile, but a smile nonetheless; his dark hazel eyes having the smallest spark of life in them.

"Cap! Sharps!" He says warmly as he gets up and brushes off his tattered camo pants, "Doc and I caught a few rabbits while you two were out! I'm just getting the fire the right temperature so we can roast them. You two find anything?"

I shake my head, "Sorry, Cook. I got nothing."

Cook's face turns crestfallen at the news of my lack of discovery. More hours wasted, but then I point at Sharps.

"But…" I add with gusto, "Sharps here hit the goddamn mother load!"

At this Sharps breaks into a smile and takes of his bag and empties out the 12 bottles of water he filled and tosses one to Cook.

"Drink, up Cook! There's loads more where this came from!" He says.

Cook loos at the bottle in his hands, then at the other bottles on the ground in disbelief. Then he uncaps the bottle and drains it, letting out a sigh of pleasure.

"You don't even know how badly we needed this!" He gets up and grabs another bottle, "Another day and we might've died out here!"

"Hey Doc!" I call to the closed tent, "Get out here!"

"This better be really fucking important!" a nagging voice comes from the tent.

"It is!" Sharps answers, "Why else would we bother you, dumbass?"

"I hate you…" the voice grumbles as the tent flap opens

Out steps a tall, young blonde woman with striking clear blue eyes. She cranes her neck and brushes her shoulder-length hair back. Like Cook, her cheeks are a bit sunken and the dark bags under her eyes stand testament to how tired she is. Despite this, she holds her head high and acts as if nothing is wrong.

"Here catch, Doc." I grab a bottle and toss it to her, "Sharps here found us a water supply and something even better."

After taking a long drink from the bottle, Doc wipes her lips, "Well…good job Sharps. I guess you're not as useless as I thought."

"Yeah, well its not like I just saved everyone's lives, Doc." Sharps basks in his glory.

"Ok, enough of the limelight, Sharps, tell Cook and Doc what you told me earlier." I snap my friend out of his stupor.

"Yes, well…" Sharps coughs in his fist a bit embarrassed, "I found a working, albeit heavily guarded hydroelectric dam further upriver. But, Cap, so what if I found it? It means nothing; it's under heavy guard. There's no point in entertaining the thought of taking it."

"Yeah," Cook agrees quickly, "Last I checked we're running low on ammo for everything. About two clips in Sharps' sniper, six shells for my shotgun, forty-five rounds for Doc's assault rifle, and about twenty rounds for you're semi-auto rifle, Cap. That's not nearly enough to take a heavily guarded post like that dam."

"That's not my point." I explain, "Why heavily guard a working hydroelectric dam? For the electricity."

"Holy shit!" Doc says, immediately recognizing what I'm saying, "I get it! That's true!"

"Well I don't…" Sharps deadpans, "Help a guy out?"

"It means, my intrepid friend." I say, "That the reason they're so heavily protecting that dam is because they need the electricity. And the reason they need electricity is because-"

"They have a settlement that needs power!" Cook finishes.

"So what the plan then?" Sharps mocks, "Just waltz on up to the damn and say 'We're military deserters please take us in!'"

"Pretty much." I admit to my exasperated fellow, "we don't have any other options."

"We could-" Sharps begins only to be cut off by Doc.

"We could what? Sharps, we've been running for the past two months and the military has hounded us every step of the way. We were lucky enough to give them the slip a few days ago, but if we run, who knows when we'll find supplies again? If we stay, we risk being caught in the open, if not by the military, then bandits, if not them, fireflies, if not them, the Cordys. It's our only option." She chides.

Cook just nods in silence, choosing to not enter the verbal fray.

"Look, even I don't like this plan, but Doc said it plain and straight. We have no options." I give a heavy sigh.

Sharps raises his arms in defeat, "Ok, ok, sorry I even mentioned it. So tomorrow then?"

I give a slow nod, "Yup, first light." Then I put a grin on as I turn to Doc, "So, Doc, Cook mentioned some rabbit?"

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**So there you go! That's the prologue, thanks a lot for reading it! Like I said I'm not 100% sure if I'll update this regularly, tell me if you want me too. Also, I'm going to Anchorage for the week and I understand that the wifi in the hotel is not free, I'll be able to check my email and stuff, but no updates on this or any of my other stories. Please review! Bye!**

**-TTL**


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